


Raise the Curtain

by viiixel



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: 8daysofaxel, Gen, It's mostly introspection on Axel's part, Roxas-Xion-Demyx-and Saix are just mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 16:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11317167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viiixel/pseuds/viiixel
Summary: They dance their way across the stage, displaying masks of emotions spurred by memories, as Axel finds that as time passes with the keyblade wielders that perhaps his mask is not needed.





	Raise the Curtain

**Author's Note:**

> This is for day six #8daysofaxel for the prompt 'emotion.'  
> I hope you enjoy and apologies for any errors!  
> More info about the event can be found in this twitter thread: https://twitter.com/viiixel/status/873721551404769281

     When he had the chance, Axel spent time watching the other members of the Organization. It was interesting to him to see how little or how much each member brought their past life into the grey half-life they were living now. For instance, Axel often lounged in the Grey Area where he would chat with Demyx before receiving their missions. Even at the early hour they had to meet, Demyx was his usual expressive self and it was entertaining to watch the man cycle through emotions with an ease that made Axel doubt that there was not a heart in his chest. Quite a few of the members were damn good actors, Axel himself included. Thanks to their memories, the motions just carried themselves out despite the aching hollow that only allowed for a façade of emotions. When Demyx told a joke, Axel’s memories brought back times when he and Isa were laughing and filled with joy. They cued him to act in the same way he did then even though they were aware that there was not a need to do so beyond their own desires. The memories serve as a neat ‘how to’, a guide book, on how to manage.

     So when he learned that Roxas and Xion, two children who helped ease the ache, did not remember their past lives he hadn’t sure what to say for a moment. Roxas’ zombie behavior made a lot more sense and the mimicking of mannerisms that the two often did was far less silly in his eyes then. “Well maybe that right there,” Axel had told them, gesturing at them with his dripping popsicle, “is what makes you guys the most unique in the Organization.” The smiles and laughter that followed came easily to Axel as he did not need to think so far back anymore. The new memories he was making with them was creating a new guidebook, one that was not so worn from repeated visits. These memories were vibrant and shining, while the memories of two boys with mischievous smiles and dreams were becoming as bleached as the walls of the castle they had vanished in.

     It was easy to let go to the old memories. There was nothing to truly tether him to them anymore. The cold dismissive man who he had placed the filter of his childhood friend over was carving out his own space in Axel’s mind. It reminded Axel of the first time he had seen a 3D movie. Midway through the movie he had taken his glasses off and was disoriented from the red and blue overlapped images that burned across the screen. At some point Axel had taken off the glasses and he could no longer see Isa in Saix. He wondered if… when the same had happened for Saix. While Axel and the others paraded around on the stage with their masks of emotions, Saix worked backstage to maintain the set. Perhaps when Axel began to feel the stirrings of something that was brought out through the children and he took his first step off the stage is when the memories began to fall apart.

     Something was changing, he couldn’t deny that Saix was right about that. The most recent chance he could watch the few remaining members go through the motions brought on by their memories he swore he could feel a reaction in himself. Something produced without the need of his memories. Perhaps he was tired and imagining it, everything he had been told about his existence and experienced told him that he was just imagining things, so brushing it off would be the best. He knew that Roxas and Xion were the keys to their restoration through Kingdom Hearts but as he moved from one of the couches to approach Saix for his mission he idly wondered if he could pretend for a while that while they were together they were as whole as they could be in that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to hit me up on twitter: [@viiixel](https://twitter.com/viiixel)
> 
> Kudos and comments are very appreciated, especially if you read to the end and see this! Writing fanfic is often thankless at times so any support shown, especially comments, is very motivating. So please consider interacting with fanfic writers if you enjoy their work!


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